Telecommunications carriers typically deploy optical fibers for transmitting optical signals from one point to another. Some telecommunications carriers transmit high bit rate optical signals through such fibers for communications in long haul, ultra long haul, and/or undersea networks. In such high bit rate systems, performance of the optical fibers may depend upon a value of residual chromatic dispersion (“CD”) of a channel provided through the optical fibers. Chromatic dispersion involves the “spreading” of an optical signal due to the wavelength dependence of the velocity of propagation of the optical signal. If an optical signal contains multiple wavelengths then, due to chromatic dispersion, the constituent wavelengths of the optical signal will travel at different speeds through the optical fiber and arrive at different times at the receiver, resulting in a “spreading” of the optical signal. Chromatic dispersion may occur due to the materials making up the optical fibers and/or geometries of the optical fibers. The speed of light through an optical fiber varies slightly with a wavelength or frequency of the light. Thus, each wavelength may be refracted at a slightly different angle when passing through an optical fiber. This refraction or spreading out of the light is called chromatic dispersion. For example, for networks with a transmission data rate of ten (10) gigabits per second (G/s), tolerance to residual chromatic dispersion may be approximately “1500” picoseconds (ps) per nanometer (nm) for an optical signal. However, for networks with a transmission data rate of forty (40) G/s, the tolerance to residual chromatic dispersion may be reduced to approximately “100” ps/nm.